AVOID The DaVinci Code: IT IS ACCURSED

I cannot understand how anyone that calls himself a Christian could have any interest or fascination at all with Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. The premise of the novel and the movie as well is that Jesus was not resurrected, was not divine, married Mary Magdelene who had their child and moved to France. Brethren, what exactly don’t you understand about this heresy? It is in such opposition to the Gospels that if were not presented as fact instead of the fiction that it is, then it probably would have been written off as some obscure bad farce. But the extreme popularity of the book, which is not surprising because it demeans Jesus (Col.2:8), has encouraged many Christians to say that they have to see the movie (and/or read the novel) so they can know what it says and thus be more effective in discussing it with unbelievers. Paul did say that we are “fools for Christ’s sake” (1Cor. 4:10), but I seriously do not believe he meant it in this way.

First of all, one must realize that Brown and his supporters do not want the truth. They may say that they do but when it stands before them like Jesus before the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:70); they do not see it at all. They just want to latch onto something that shows that they do not have to give up their sinful lifestyle. And furthermore, one does not have to experience evil to know how to combat it. If that were the case, then one should watch pornography, have an abortion, and have a homosexual affair (or a heterosexual one for that matter) so that you can see where these sinners are coming from. I don’t think so! The Bible says to run from evil and temptation (1Thess. 5:22).

The Bible says that “the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1Cor.1:18). They don’t want the truth. They just want secret “knowledge” or gnosis (1Tim.6:20-21). They want knowledge that Jesus was not God (1John 4:2-3) and that He is not the only way to the Father (John 3:16). They want to believe in lost hidden gospels that will enable them to wallow in their own sins. The Bible calls that “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim.2:7). They want the same heretical gnosis that Paul warned against 2000 years ago (1Cor.8:1). It is a secret knowledge that is prideful and false and does not recognize Jesus Christ as divine.  If there were no resurrection and Christ did not die for our sins, then there is no hope for remission of sin. This is a false Christ (Matthew 24:24) not the redeemer of the gospels. Also, Gnostics were, and still are in many cases, sexually erotic deviants. They see flesh as evil not spiritual and thus anything goes sexually. I have been told that Dan Brown’s book The DaVinci Code is thus also. Be careful!

Dan Brown disingenuously tries to convince the reader that the gospels were not brought together until the Council of Nicea in 325 AD by Constantine and that many were omitted. He then presents as fact that Jesus was first made divine by this Council which is of course nonsense. The Muratorian Canon of 170 AD brought together most of the writings that we recognize today as the gospels and Jesus is clearly presented as divine in them as He was to the early ante-Nicene Fathers of the Church.  Brown does not want the truth but neither do his readers as I explained earlier. As the Prophet Isaiah said “all he does is open wide his mouth and sticks out his tongue, child of rebellion, offspring of deceit” (Isaiah 57:4).

The bottom line for Christians is what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. “If Christ was not raised your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins” (1Cor.15:17). Christ was raised as first fruits of those asleep” (1Cor.15:20). If Jesus was not crucified for your sins and resurrected from the dead on the third day, than you are still in your sins, there is no hope of eternal life, and Christianity is worthless. Can you now see why I said that that The DaVinci Code should be anathema (accursed) to all Christians? If it is really fact, that you are no longer a child of God.

Again, I can see how an unbeliever would latch onto this book and movie as a rationalization for their sins, but why would a Christian? Paul wrote to the Church at Galatia “that when we believe, we are crucified with Christ and Christ now lives in us” (Galatians 2:20). He tells them that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law because cursed is he who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). Thus, no crucifixion, no redemption from the curse of the law, no Christ living in us, no Christianity. Can you not see what Dan Brown is trying to do? His motive and purpose is to discredit Christianity altogether.

The DaVinci Code along with The Gospel of Judas and The Jesus Papers are all trying to delegitimize Christianity. These attacks of Satan are not like Harry Potter or Dungeons and Dragons or Satanism which are clearly demonic, but these purport to tell us the real story of Jesus. Paul warned us 2000 years ago not to “mistake myths and lies for the truth” (2Tim.4:4). These lies and deceptions not only serve to keep those that are lost and perishing in their trespasses, but also cause believers to potentially fall into sin.

The bottom line is who cares about Brown’s secret societies and alleged suppressed Gnostic heresies. If Jesus was indeed not resurrected and Mary Magdalene had their  child and went to France, then we are all lost and perishing and our savior is no more. But we know by faith and the true, eternal word of God that Brown is wrong and Jesus came to this earth sent by the Father to die for our sins and that He was risen on the third day and sits at the right hand of the Father. Because Jesus did this, all of us who believe in Him shall not perish but will have eternal life (John 3:16).

What we all need to do when asked questions by unbelievers is to tell them what Christ has done in our life. He took a worthless, unrepentant sinner like me and washed me clean by his blood from Calvary. People who see me now know that I am a new man from what I was before. Tell them what Christ has done for you. It is up to God to save people not us. All that we are to do is tell them the good news and leave it to God. To those Christian friends who want to see this movie tell them that the Bible says to run from evil (Proverbs 4:14-15). Tell them that if indeed Dan Brown is correct that Christ was not divine than they are no longer Christians but they are just lost sinners like everybody else. We should remember that as followers of a risen Christ “we are children of God, being the children of the resurrection”. (Luke 20:36). If Jesus was not resurrected and really married Mary Magdelene and had children, we all are dead in our trespasses.  This is why The DaVinci Codes are an anathema, accursed, devoted to destruction (1 Cor.16:22) and should be avoided like the plague.

About the Author:

Stephen M. Yulish, born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1947, received his BA from Case Western Reserve University in 1969, his MA in 1972, and his PhD in 1975 from the University of Illinois. His first book, The Search for a Civic Religion, was published in 1980. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson and then became a Jewish Community Professional in Phoenix. Currently disabled with Multiple Sclerosis, the author is co-leader of Chayim Chadashim Messianic Fellowship and is on the Board of Reference for Jewish Voice Prophetic Magazine. He lives in Flagstaff, AZ, with his wife Paula and daughter Andrea.